Paper Piecing

I think I've got paper piecing down pat.

I was worried about trying this technique.

 this was my first attempt at paper piecing

 this flower is my second attempt

 this house was my 3rd attempt, I love the perfect-ness of the lines, it just makes me smile

 this is my 4th attempt at paper piecing

I'd say I've got it down pat, would you?

close up,

the mittens each have 17 pieces, WOW

I was worried about this pattern,

I thought it was bigger when I got it, I didn't pay attention to size.

This hat-scarf-mittens hanging will go to live in San Jose, CA

It looks a bit wonky on it's right side, but it's not.

I think now that i've learned paper piecing, I'll do my Farmer's Wife blocks paper pieced.

Now I'm just worried about curved pieces in those blocks.  eeekkkk

Ok Y'all....

Christmas is over and it's time to move on.

Easy for me to say, I didn't decorate a thing...

wait, I did put a wreath on the door.  It's down now though.

I think all the presents and boxes all have a home now and out of the

living room floor.

I got a gift certificate to Amazon and below is one of my purchases....

I'll need your help on this one.

I've googled and googled and used ask.com all I can.

I didn't find what I wanted to know.

I even left a few comments on several blogs and NO ONE got back to me.

My questions, and actually I thought once I get the book it might even

answer these questions for me.

Maybe I should wait and see.

Oh heck, let's go ahead.

**Do you use your scraps with these blocks?

**I know there are 111 blocks, how do you know how much fabric you use if you decide not to use scraps?

**Would you use one line of fabric?

**Or would you mix it up?

**I've seen examples of very modern fabric and for some reason I was thinking you would use Civil war era prints or something reproduced?

Any help you all can provide is much appreciated.

Thank You

thank you all for all the thoughts and prayers for our family this holiday season

we're enjoying a few days with E

we had a team meeting wednesday with everyone involved

and they say he's making progress

and i can tell at home as well

i stitched up this little stitchery for him to take back and hang on his wall

he loves it

Featured

read my post here

Turtles-Show & Tell

we moved our babies (not babies, 8 years old) into a bigger home this week

we had them in a 30 gallon tank

only one get dry their shell at a time and they would fit over the 1 landing

as you can see all 3 drying off, and on the other side, their is 1 all by himself drying off

it's good to let their shells dry out as they want them too

 he's not even the biggest one

Dale is the biggest and he's much bigger than my hand

see the little guy over to the far left barely with his head out of water?

the females are bigger, so really our "dale" is a girl, oh well

normally turtles like this will never out grow their space

so, we're a bit concerned they'll grow

that's not our intention for the bigger tank, lol

our plan for the bigger tank is to mate them

we want to make a higher landing and place sand up there

they will only lay eggs in dry sand

it will be a work in progress

we've not read all we can about it yet, so we'll wait till we know all we need to know.

also, we'll have to have a plan for the babies (hmmmm)

yeah, we need to plan this out more

Love these......

i've been looking for something like this for a while

i'm loving these.....

here's where I got the tags
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JennifersJewels?ref=seller_info

Makeover in E's Room

soooooo, we're in the process of an extreme makeover in E's room

and I mean extreme..

thankfully, i had already painted all his furniture black

oops....except for the bed, i'll get right on that

i've struggled with what the decor will be

i wanted all black (with some white)

he wants black and orange (the colors of our local high school football team)

i'm back to black

and i've just had a brilliant idea (well, i think so)

how about i put these different sayings on his wall?

not all of them, just a select few

and in black self adhesive lettering

and one that says "i love you" -mom

Bicycle?

so cute.....i saw something "like" this on Pinterest

this is my take on it......

Tutorial Coming Soon

crocheted ear bud cords

they will never tangle again

to us, in this house, that's a big deal

i've ordered some ear buds and am working on a tutorial

look for it next week

p.s. thanks to you all for your thoughts and prayers and emails, i appreciate you all

Remember...

this post?

Well, it's all going down tomorrow......

I've spent the weekend doing loads and loads of his laundry.

I've only ever did his laundry about once a month, that's how many clothes he has.

It's crazy!

It's good though, I needed to go through his clothes and this is the perfect time.

So, please remember our little family tomorrow as we dropped our beloved son off.

It's nearly a 2 hr drive, so down there and back will be long.

Moda Twill Tape Key Fob

i love these, simply made

two made from fabric and webbing, not MODA

I'm featured Again......

I love it when someone thinks my project is just as great as I do.

Check out my latest feature at AllFreeSewing.com

(click to see link)

Happy Thanksgiving

a fabric wreath for the front door

i've opted out of Christmas decorations this year

i never thought i'd ever say "i'm not putting up a tree this year"

it's just to hard

no little one here to enjoy it and i don't want a reminder

however; i did make this wreath for the front door

at least the neighbors won't think we're SCROOGE 

Do You Pinterest?

found this on there tonight......love it

Yo Yo Quilt Completed

Go here and see my completed Yo Yo Quilt.

Thank you all for your kind words on my last post!

It's personal.........

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

the next 6-12 months will be the longest of my life

after months and months of planning, psych visits, therapy, rehab and many meetings

we've made the decision along with all his dr's to get E some extensive inpatient therapy

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

i won't go into details, cause well.......it's personal

when he hears me talking on the phone to my mom, before he knows it's my mom, he gets really 

angry that i'm telling people, so.....to honor my sweet E, i won't go into details on the "internet"

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

who knows if i'll blog or if i'll lay in bed and cry all day...who knows?

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

you might remember awhile back i was making a t-shirt quilt from his shirts

well, that was for me while he was away, then of course i'd give it to him when he returned home

well.........it's all jacked up and i'm not sure i can fix it before he goes....i'm actually discourage with the quilt as this point.

he still has one of his baby blankets, i will be taking that while he's away

i wish i wouldn't have messed up the t-shirt quilt

it is what it is...........

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

so......i'm not sure what the next 6-12 months will be like, other than LONELY

pop in and check on me every now and then

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Click

to read about our 2nd Project Linus sew in day success

here

Christmas SAL Banner Completed

please forgive the horrible picture

I used twine to "banner" mine.

Why?  Cause I can.

I love twine.  

I love this.

Just wish I had a mantle to hang it from.

haha

Winners

I asked DH to pick a number between 1-15, then another number

Winner of the string quilt book:

# 9

Sarah Craig said...

9

I'd love to win the String Quilting book - it looks so interesting!

and winner of the quilt start to finish:

# 4

Tainted Fibers said...

4

Either. I am so not picky. But I doubt that a book will help me make a quilt. I can dream!

 ladies, email me your snail addy's and I'll get these books off

tonyahmay@aol.com

Post 575

Nancy, from DRG is so kind to me.  Too kind actually.

She sends me copies of all the latest quilting books that come out.

You might remember I gave one away a few weeks back. 

This is the one that was up for grabs when I also gave away the felt.

The felt winner contacted me, the winner of this book did not.

Soooooooooooooooooo

now, I have two books to give away. The string quilt book above, and the "learn how to make a quilt".

Simple entry, just let me know which book you would like to win.  I'll draw a winner on Friday.

FYI: this is my 575th post.  WOOHOO

Accuquilt Die Applique-A tutorial of sorts, Kinda

i made this from two dies

♥ round flower

&

♥ feathers

even the vase came from the round flower die 

you can see that tutorial here

this won't be a step by step tutorial

but I think if I show you what die i cut each piece with

you can put it together fairly quickly

 i'm sure y'all could figure it out

but i'll give you some help

the flower petals are made from the blue feathers on the die

the flower stems are made from the stem, of course ;)

the vase is made from the stem as well, see tutorial link above

the leaf, from the left part of the die

and the center of the flower that i have as yellow

is made from the bigger circle

it was super easy to make and with my BABY GO

so much easier

now all you have to do is blanket stitch around it all

It's what i'm doing today......

and if you are my FB friend, you saw that i'm in my most favorite winter outfit

flannel night gown to the floor

knit pants on under that

and 

thick socks

YEP..........sexy and I know it.

:0)

Binding Love.....

binding I made for my SAL stitchery blocks

i just love making my own binding

All caught up.......

 this did say "xmas", i changed it to say Christmas

a new stitchery will come out this friday

yahhh.....i'm current

I got a Baby GO

remember a week or so back I wanted to sell my GO

so I could buy a BABY GO

well, I made a trade with a blogging buddy

it worked out perfectly

she knew mine was worth more and made up the difference

i'm so happy with this trade

isn't it cute

those are the dies i had with my big GO that will fit the baby

i sent her the ones that won't fit the baby

thanks for the trade

you know who you are!

Comments

lately i've noticed less comments on my blog from my regular readers

i'm getting emails from several of those people saying they can't leave comments, blogger won't let them

i haven't changed any settings

does anyone know of anything i can check and see what's going on?

2 More Christmas SAL Blocks

Christmas SAL Blocks

ok, i'm hooked on stitching right now

you all know, i dabble in everything crafty

and i often get hung up on one thing or another

right now it just happens to be stitchery

i found the Christmas SAL via Nola's blog

there are 5 blocks out right now and i'm done with 2

3 more to go to be current and by then another one will be out

it's one a week for 8 weeks

you know how i don't like to follow the rules, i'm a rebel of sorts, i guess

she's doing all her's in red

since it's for Christmas and i love GREEN

i'm doing red and green

she put batting behind her block for a quilted look

i didn't

she also put french knots on the ends of the letters

i hate french knots....ugghhh

i should say, i hate my french knots

i'm sure there is a easier way to do them than what i'm doing

anywho.........

i'm loving these blocks

Just a pretty picture.....

not to mention all my hard work that went into this